This chapter took way too long to write, and for that I am sorry. Thank you to all the followers still with me and I am so sorry for the delay. I've been going through a lot lately but I'm not giving up on this. Please enjoy!

Serephina

I was the first to open my eyes again. A cold sensation brushed over my right side. Elsa had rolled away from me. I could see her bare back at the other side of the bed. Where her hair was brushed away, I could count the notches of her spine on the back of her neck. Her shoulders were hunched up by her ears, and her whole posture was stiff. I frowned before moving myself closer. My hand gentle slid onto her left arm above the sheets while my lips brushed her neck. At my touch, she relaxed slightly at first.

"Mmmmmm… No!" She inhaled slightly before sitting upright in bed. She pulled the blanket that was just around her waist to her chest. She took one quick look at me before scrambling off the bed.

"Elsa? What's wrong?" panic filled me as I sat up.

One hand kept herself covered while the other was held out in front of her as if to keep me back. "No. Don't come near me please. Please don't touch me. I made a mistake. I let this go on too long."

"Elsa, please. What are you talking about? You're not making any sense?" I pulled back the reaming sheets and stood up. I stepped towards her with my hands out in surrender. Pain ran through my chest at the look in her eyes. She honestly looked terrified of me. But even worse, I saw regret in her gaze. "Elsa…"

"No," she looked to the floor, losing strength in her words, "I need you to leave, please. You need to go."

For a split second, I was frozen inside. Everything went numb before a burning pain replaced it. "What are you saying? I'm not going to leave you. You need me… and I need you. Elsa please, look at me. Elsa I love you."

Now I was standing right in front of her. She backed herself against a wall and refused to move her eyes. I shifted her chin to turn her face towards me. My hand cupped her cheek next. Her eyes closed and her face pressed back into my hand in return. "I love you Elsa."

For a moment, we stood there silent. A single tear ran down her cheek. "You know what I love?"

"Tell me."

She turned her face and looked up into my eyes. When she did, the look was empty. "I love my people. I love my sister. I have a responsibility to them. This never was going to work. I can't love you, and you have to leave."

I broke my connection with her all together. Her tone, her eyes, everything told me what she had said was what she wanted. I stepped backward, away from the queen. My head bowed briefly, but my eyes lingered on the floor. "As you wish."

Numb, that was all I felt when I backed out of the room.

Elsa

The door slammed shut just as I fell to my knees. Sobs shook my entire body as I fell onto the floor the rest of the way. I curled onto my side as tears ran down my face. When I could hear her door close across the hall, it felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I pulled the blanket I held onto over my face. Her scent lingered on the fabric.

"I'm sorry, Serephina… I-I love you," I choked out. It was true; I didn't want to be without her. But I needed to protect her from what I would bring her. To do that, I had to break her heart. Besides freezing Anna's heart, it was the hardest thing I had ever done.

Serephina said she loved you. She called you family. Past voices ran through my mind. The hurt was too raw and fresh. I couldn't hold anything back. Frost circled outward from me in a pattern on the floor. Ice crystals hung in the air around me. I was losing control all over again. From the floor, it curled up the walls. Power surged from me with such force my vanity mirror broke. My sobs became empty and silent as a storm formed around me.

A few quiet knocks paused my crying. "Elsa? Are you awake?"

Anna. I wiped at my cheeks with the back of my wrist. "Yeah, I'm up. Just a minute Anna."

I stood up slowly. My knees shook under my weight. I stumbled toward my robe lying on the floor. Quickly I pulled on the sleeves and knotted the front. Tripping along the way, I made it to the door. When I crack open the door, Anna was right there. "Hi, you look awful."

I slipped through the opening and shut the door behind me. The bedroom was in shambles. It was probably easiest to avoid the questions, or worry. "Yeah, I think I might be coming down with something. I woke up feeling awful."

"Oh Elsa, do you need me to come and take care of you? Should I call the doctor or bring soup or…" she began rambling off adjusting how the robe was sitting on my shoulders. Her hand caught a piece of my hair and smoothed it gently. It made me want to burst into tears all over again.

"No Anna. I'll be fine, but I need to be alone right now."

"Why? Elsa what's wrong?" she looked so hurt by my words.

I sighed and reached for the handle, "I think I just need to sleep this off. Please, I just need some time." With that, I disappeared back to the other side of the door. I waited against it till I heard Anna's footsteps growing softer. My knees bent as I slid down the door. My forehead rested between my knees as I began to cry all over again.

It hurt so much.

Serephina

I was sprinting through the trees. The bag was held tight by my fist and the knife at my hip beat against my leg. My heart was racing. Fire built up in my lungs from the effort. That pain kept me distracted. It felt as if I was yelling but all I could hear was the white noise that filled my head. I ran mindlessly with no destination.

The sharp end of a branch brought me to a stop.

The entire time many braches had grazed my face or reached for my body. This one did not bend around me like the others. Instead when I collided into it I was knocked down onto my back. My chest stung where my shirt had been torn by it. My head throbbed from the impact. I laid there for a while just staring through empty eyes at the sky.

"I didn't ask for this," I whispered into the air. Numbness spread from my fingertips to my toes. I was weightless as if I was sinking into the Earth. Part of my mind took pleasure at the idea of the ground swallowing me into its depths. It would be so much easier that way. I didn't want to be alone anymore. I didn't want to be designed for the world to despise me.

Then all at once my heart began to pound again. My chest rose and fell faster and faster. A surge of rage and pain pushed me to get off the ground. "I didn't want this damn it! I didn't God damn ask for this!"

I could feel the heat that ran across the ground away from me, singing the grass black. Tears dripped from my chin as I breathed with the pain. Flames curled around my closed fists. Finally I screamed out to the heavens. My left hand crashed into the side of the nearest tree. Scorched splinters shot away from my unbridled strength.

"Why is this pain so strong?"